RESIDENTS of western Sydney "should never be viewed as being second rate" , Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared last night.

Addressing a crowd of Labor party faithful at the University of Western Sydney's Parramatta campus, Ms Gillard compared Sydney's west, where she will sleep at Rooty Hill RSL for a week, and where carbon tax protesters are planning to protest today, with her Melbourne electorate of Lalor.

"For far too long the community I made my home, the communities I represent, have been the kind of places people hurried through, not places where you stopped to stay.

"Being from the west should never be viewed as being second rate. In this region, your fierce sense of pride in your home and its achievements should engender recognition and respect," she said.

But her remarks angered her opponents from the key battleground region.

The head of the body representing western suburbs councils, Liberal councillor Tony Hadchiti, said: "People from the west are first rate. Everyone in western Sydney would feel insulted if they are viewed as second rate.

"Being the third largest economy in Australia, if we stop, the nation stops."

Ms Gillard said she wanted people who strive to make a better life for their children to "feel government (was) working with you."

"Put simply, we don't accept that other suburbs come first and you come second.

"We don't accept that hospitals in other suburbs should be better class than the hospitals here.

"We don't accept that other schools need libraries, trade training centres and great teachers and that you don't.

"We don't accept that you should feel less safe, or have less opportunity, or worse infrastructure than other parts of this city or our nation."

She listed how the government had helped western Sydney school halls, 115,000 parents receive school kids' bonuses, the tripling of the tax-free threshold, upgrades to Nepean Hospital, GP clinics at Blacktown and Liverpool and the national disability insurance scheme.

ssing the carbon tax, which has been deeply unpopular in western Sydney, Ms Gillard said the government had been "prepared to stand up and act."

Blaxland MP Jason Clare listed the sporting greats, including Michael Clarke, Harry Kewell and Betty Cuthbert who were raised in the regions.

He said Ms Gillard was "made of the same stuff as western Sydney."

NSW Labor Party secretary dismissed reports the party faced a wipeout in western Sydney but he acknowledged the ICAC, Eddie Obeid scandal was having an impact.

A small group of protesters angry the government had sent asylum seekers to Nauru and Manus Island were waiting to confront the PM when they were ordered away by campus security.

"We've been standing here handing out leaflets, no one had a problem with it. Campus police did," protester Petra Weber said.

Jacques Laxale, who organised protesters against the carbon tax, said he had asked about 50 people to be at Rooty Hill RSL with their electricity bills and placards at 7am today.

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